norroena - embracing the history and romance of northern europe - vol 10
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86754
THE
STORY
OF
BURNT
NJAL
The Great
Icelandic
Tribune,
Jurist, and
Counsellor.
TRANSLATED
FROM
THE
NJALS
SAGA
BY THE
LATE
SIR
GEORGE
WEBBE
DASENT,
D.C.
L.
With
Editor's
Prefatory
Note
and
Author's
Introduction.
HON. RASMUS
B.
ANDERSON,
LL.D.,
EDITOR IN
CHIEF.
J.
W.
BUEL,
Ph.D.,
MANAGING
EDITOR.
PUBLISHED BT
THE
NORRCENA
SOCIETY,
LONDON
STOCKHOLM
COPENHAGEN BERLIN
NEW YORK
1P07
86754
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7zk9
N
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OF
THE
fIDemorial
EMtion
There
are
but
three
hundred
and
fifty
complete
sets
made
for
the
world,
of
'which
this
is
copy
:
HORRCE^A
ANGLO-SAXON
CLASSICS
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LIST OF
PHOTOGRAVURES.
C
Burnt Njai.)
Frontispiece
The
Last Skald.
Page
Death of
Earl
Hacon.
137
Blood-Badet
Blood
Revel
232
Funeral
of
Kol
Thorstein's
Son
309
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CONTENTS.
(Burnt
Njal)
Page
Editor's
Prefatory Note
ix
Sir
George
Dasent's
Preface
xi
Sir
George
Dasent's
Introduction.
The
Northmen
in
Iceland
xv
Superstitions
of the
Race
xviii
Social
Principles of the
Icelanders xx
Daily
Life
in
Njal's
Time
xxvi
Ships, Voyages,
and
Discoveries
xxxii
Social Equality
of
the Sexes xxxiv
The
Strength
and Beauty
of
the Story
xxxvi
Icelandic Chronology
xxxix
The
Story of
Burnt Njal.
CHAPTER
IOf
Fiddle Mord 1
IIAtli Arnvid Son's
Slaying
2
III
Hrut Sails out
to
Iceland
5
IV
Unna
Separates
from Hrut
10
V
Mord
Claims
his
Goods
from Hrut
13
VI
Thorwald Gets
Hallgerda
to
Wife 15
VII
Hallgerda's
Wedding 17
VIII
Thorwald's
Slaying
19
IX
Glum's
Wooing
21
X
Glum's Slaying
26
XI
Gunnar
Comes
into
the
Story 29
XII
Of Njal
and his Children
30
XIII
Helgi Njal's
Son's Wooing
31
XIV
Gunnar Goes
Abroad
32
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CONTENTS
chapter
Page
XV
Gunnar's
Sea-Roving
34
XVI
The Visit to
Bergthorsknoll
38
XVII
Kol
Slays
Swart
40
XVIII
The
Slaying of Kol 45
XIXThe Killing
of
Atli 48
XXThe
Slaying
of
Brynjolf
52
XXI
Sigmund
Conies
out
of
Iceland
54
XXII
The
Slaying
of Thord Freedmanson 58
XXIII
Njal
and
Gunnar
Make Peace 59
XXIV
The Slaying of Sigmund
and
Skiold. 61
XXVHow
Otkell Rode Over Gunnar
65
XXVI
The
Fight
at
Rangriver 67
XXVIINjal's
Advice
to
Gunnar
71
XXVIII
Gunnar
and
Geir
Strive
at
the
Thing 73
XXIX
Of
Starkad and his Sons
77
XXX
How
Gunnar's Horse Fought
80
XXXI
Of Asgrim
and Wolf
Uggi's
Son
83
XXXII An Attack
Against Gunnar
Agreed
on S4
XXXIIIGunnar's Dream 86
XXXIV
The Slaying of
Hjort
and
Fourteen
Men 88
XXXV
Njal's
Counsel
to
Gunnar
91
XXXVI
Of
Valgard and
Mord 93
XXXVIIOf
Fines
and
Atonements
96
XXXVIIIOf Thorgeir Starkad's
Son
98
XXXIX
Of
Njal and those
Namesakes
100
XL
Mord's
Counsel
102
XLIThe Slaying
of Thorgeir
104
XLII
Suits
for
Manslaughter
at the
Thing
106
XLIII
Of
the Atonement
108
XLIV
The
Riding
to Lithend
110
XLV
Gunnar's
Slaying
Ill-
XLVI
Gunnar Sings
a
Death Song
115
XLVII
Gunnar of Lithend
Avenged
117
XLVIIIHogni
Atones for Gunnar's
Death
119
XLIX Njal's Sons Sail Abroad
120
L
Of
Kari Solmund's
Son
122
LI
Hrapp's
Voyage
from
Iceland
124
LII
Quarrel
of
Njal's
Sons with
Thrain's
Son
130
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chapter
Page
LIII
Thrain
Sigfus'
Son's
Slaying
131
LI
V
Of the
Change of
Faith
137
LV
Of
Thangbrand's
Journeys
139
LVI
Of
Thangbrand
and
Gudleif
141
LVII
Of
Gest
Oddleif's
Son
143
LVIII
Of
Gizur
the
White
and
Hjallti
146
LVIX
The
Wedding
of
Hauskuld
147
LX
The
Slaying
of Njal's
Son
153
LXI
The
Slaying of
Lyting's
Brothers
157
I,XII
Of
Amund
the
Blind
160
LXIII
The
Slander
of
Mord
Valgard's
Son
163
LXIV
Of Mord
and
Njal's
Sons
166
I,XV
The
Slaying of
Hauskuld
167
LXVI
Hildigunna and
Mord
Valgard's
Son
168
LXVII
Of Flosi
Thord's Son
171
LXVIII
Of
Flosi
and
Hildigunna
173
LXIX
Of
Flosi,
Mord,
and
the
Sons
of
Sigfus
177
LXX
The
Pleading
of
the Suit
-
179
LXXI
Award
of
Atonement
Between
Flosi
and
Njal.181
LXXII
Of
the
Judges
183
LXXIII
Attack
Planned
on
Njal
and his
Sons
188
LXXI
V
Portent
of
the
Wolf's Ride
194
LXXVThe
Onslaught
on
Bergthorsknoll
194
LXXVI
Of Njal's
Burning
198
LXXVII
Skarphedinn's
Death
204
LXXVIII
Njal's
and
Bergthora's
Bones
Found
210
LXXIX
Flosi's Dream
214
LXXX
Of
Thorhall
and
Kari
216
LXXXI
Of Flosi
and the
Burners
221
LXXXII
Of
Eyjolf
Bolverk's
Son
224
LXXXIII
Asgrim,
Gizur,
and
Kari
230
LXXXI
V
Of
Asgrim
and
Gudmund
235
LXXX
V
Of
the
Declarations
of
the
Suits
237
LXXXVI
Now
Men
go
to
the Courts
240
LXXX
VIIOf
Eyjolf
Bolverk's
Son
254
LXXXVIII
Counsel of
Thorhall
Asgrim's
Son 256
LXXXIX
Battle at
the
Althing
264
XC
Kari
Comes
to
Bjorn's House 275
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CONTENTS
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Page
XCI
Of
Flosi's
Counsel
to
the Burners 278
XCII
Of
Kari
and
Bjorn 282
XCIII
More
of
Kari
and
Bjorn
286
XCIV
Of
Kari,
Bjorn,
and
Thorgeir
290
XCV
Flosi
Goes
Abroad
292
XCVI
Kari
Goes
Abroad
295
XCVII
Gunnar
Lambi's Son's
Slaying
297
XCVIII
Of
Signs
and
Wonders
300
XCIX
Brian's
Battle
302
C
The
Slaying
of Thorstein's Son
308
-
CI
Of
Flosi and
Kari 310
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PREFATORY
NOTE.
This
print
of
Sir
George
Dasent's
translation
of
the
Njals
Saga,
under
the
title
The Story of
Burnt
Njal, has
been
prepared
in order
that
this
incomparable
Saga may
become
aecessible
to
those readers
with whom a
good
story
is
the
Urst
consideration,
and
its
bearing upon
a
nation's
history
a
secondary
one
or
is
not considered at
all. For
Burnt Njal
may be
approached
cither
as
a
historical
docu-
ment,
or
as
a pure narrative
of
elemental
natures,
of
strong
passions,
and
of
heroic
feats
of
strength.
Some
of
the best
fighting
in literature
is
to
be
found
between
its
covers.
Sir
George
Dasent's
version
in its capacity
as a
learned
work
for
the
study
has
had nearly
forty
years
of
life;
it
is
now offered
afresh
simply
as
a brave
story
for
men who
have
been
boys
and
for
boys
zvho
are going to
be
men.
We
lay dozen the
book
at the end
having
added
to
our
store
of
good
memories the record
of
great deeds
and great
hearts,
and
to our gallery
of
heroes
strong
and
admirable
men worthy to
stand
beside
the
strong
and
admirable men
of
the
Iliad
Gunnar
of
Lithcnd
and
Skarphcdinn, Njal and
Kari, Helgi and
Kolskegg,
beside
Telamonian
Aias
and
Patroclus, Achilles
and
Hector,
Ulysses
and
Idomenens.
In
two respects these Icelanders
win
more
of
our sympathy
than
the
Greeks and
Trojans;
for
they, like ourselves,
are
of
Northern
blood,
and
in
their
mighty strivings
are
un-
assisted
by
the
gods.
In
the present
volume
Sir
George
Dasent's
preface
has
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PREFATORY NOTE
been
shortened,
and
Jiis
introduction,
which
everyone should
make a
point
of
reading
has
been
considerably abridged.
Sir George Webbe Dasent,
D.C.L., the
translator
of
the
Njals
Saga, was
born in
1817
at
St. Vincent
in the
West
Indies,
of
which
island Jiis
father was
Attorney-General.
He
was
educated
at Westminster
School,
and at Magdalen
Hall,
Oxford,
where he zvas
distinguished
both as
a
fine
athlete
and
a
good classic. He
took
his
degree in
1840,
and on
settling
in
London
shozved
an early tendency
towards
literature
and
literary
society. The
Sterlings
were
con-
nected with
the island
of
St.
Vincent,
and as Dasent
and
John
Sterling
became
close
friends,
he
was
a constant
guest
at Captain Sterling's
house in
Kuightsbridge,
which
was
frequented
by
many
who
afterwards
rose
to
eminence
in
the
world
of
letters,
including
Carlyle,
to whom
Dasent dedicated
his Urst
book.
Dasent's
appointment
in
1842
as
private
secretary
to Sir James
Cartwright,
the
British
Envoy to
the court
of
Sweden, took
hint
to
Stockholm,
where
under
the
advice
of
Jacob
Grimm,
whom
he had met in
Denmark,
he
began
that study
of
Scandinavian literature
which
has
enriched
English
literature
by
the
present
work,
and
by
the
Norse
Tales, Gisli
the
Outlaw,
and
other
valuable
trans-
lations
and
memoirs.
On
returning
to London again
in 1845
he
joined the
Times
staff
as
assistant editor
to
the
great
Dclane,
who had
been his
friend
at
Oxford, and whose
sister
he married
in
the
follotuing
year.
In
1870
Mr.
Gladstone
offered
him
a
Civil Service
Commissioner
ship,
which
he
accepted
and
held
until his
retirement
in
1892.
He
was
knighted
for
public services
in
1876,
having
been
created
a
knight
of
the
Danish
order
of
the
Danne-
brog many
years
earlier.
He
died
greatly
respected in
1896.
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SIR GEORGE
DASENTS
PREFACE.
(Abridged.)
What is
a
Saga?
A
Saga
is
a
story,
or
telling
in prose,
sometimes
mixed
with verse.
There
are
many
kinds
of
Sagas,
of
all degrees
of
truth.
There
are
the
mythical
Sagas, in which
the
wondrous
deeds
of
heroes of
old
time,
half
gods and half men,
as
Sigurd
and
Ragnar,
are
told
as
they were
handed
down from
father
to
son
in the traditions
of
the
Northern race.
Then
there
are Sagas
recounting
the
history
of the
kings
of Norway
and
other countries,
of the
great
line of
Orkney
Jarls,
and of
the
chiefs who
ruled in Faroe.
These
are all more or less trustworthy,
and,
in
general,
far
worthier
of belief
than
much
that
passes for
the
early
history
of
other
races. Again, there
are
Sagas
relating
to
Iceland,
narrating
the lives,
and
feuds,
the ends of
mighty chiefs,
the heads
of
the great
families which dwelt
in
this or that district
of the island.
These were told
by
men who
lived on
the
very spot,
and
told
with
a
minuteness
and
exactness,
as to
time and
place,
that will bear
the strictest
examination.
Such a
Saga
is
that of
Njal,
which
we now
lay
before
our readers
in
an
English
garb.
Of
all
the
Sagas
relating
to
Iceland,
this tragic
story
bears
away the palm
for
truthfulness
and
beauty.
To use the
words
of
one well
qualified
to
judge,
it
is,
as compared
with all similar compositions,
as
gold
to
brass.
Like all
the
Sagas
which
relate
to
the same period
of
Icelandic story, Njal
was
not
written
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DASENT'S PREFACE
down
till
about
100
years
after
the
events
which
are
described in
it
had
happened.
In the
meantime,
it
was
handed down
by
word
of
mouth,
told
from
Althing
to
Althing,
at
Spring
Thing,
and Autumn
Leet,
at
all
great
gatherings of
the
people,
and over
many
a
fireside,
on sea strand
or
river bank,
or
up among
the
dales and
hills,
by
men
who
had
learnt
the
sad
story of Njal's
fate, and
who
could
tell
of
Gunnar's
peerlessness
and
Hallgerda's
infamy,
of
Bergthora's
helpfulness,
of
Skarp-
hedinn's
hastiness,
of
Flosi's foul
deed, and
Kari's
stern
revenge.
We may be
sure
that
as
soon as
each event
recorded
in the
Saga
occurred,
it was told
and talked
about
as
a
matter of
history
%
and when
at
last the
whole
story
was
unfolded
and
took
shape,
and
centred
round
Njal,
that it was handed down from
father
to son,
as
truthfully
and
faithfully as
could ever
be the
case
with
any public or
notorious matter
in
local history.
But
it
is
not
on
Njal
alone that
we
have
to
rely
for
our evidence
of
its
genuineness. There
are
many
other
Sagas
relating
to the same period, and handed
down
in like
manner,
in
which
the
actors in
our
Saga
are incidentally
mentioned
by
name,
and in which the deeds recorded
of them
are
corroborated.
They
are mentioned also
in
songs
and
Annals, the
latter being the earliest
written
records which
belong
to
the
history
of
the island,
while
the
former
were
more easily
remembered, from the construction
of
the
verse. Much
passes
for
history
in
other
lands
on far slighter
grounds,
and
many
a
story in
Thucydides or Tacitus,
or
even in
Clarendon or Hume,
is
believed
on
evidence
not
one-tenth
part
so
trustworthy as
that
which supports
the
narratives
of
these Icelandic
story-tellers of
the
eleventh
century. That
with occurrences
of undoubted
truth,
and
minute
particularity
as to
time
and
place,
as
to dates and
xii
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DASENT'S
PREFACE
distance,
are
intermingled
wild
superstitions
on
several
occasions,
will
startle
no
reader
of
the
smallest
judgment.
All ages,
our own
not
excepted,
have
their
superstitions,
and
to
suppose
that
a
story told
in
the
eleventh
century,
when
phantoms, and
ghosts,
and
wraiths,
were
implicitly
believed
in, and
when
dreams, and
warnings,
and
tokens,
were
part
of
every
man's
creed
should
be
wanting in
these
marks of
genuineness,
is simply to
require that
one
great
proof of
its
truthfulness
should
be
wanting,
and
that,
in order to
suit
the
spirit of our
age,
it should
lack
something
which was
part and
parcel
of
popular
belief
in
the
age
to
which it
belonged.
To
a
thoughtful
mind,
therefore,
such
stories
as that
of
Swan's
witchcraft,
Gun-
nar's
song
in
his cairn, the
Wolf's
ride before
the
Burning,
Flosi's dreams,
the
signs and
tokens
before
Brian's
battle,
and
even Njal's
weird
foresight,
on
which
the whole
story
hangs,
will
be
regarded
as
proofs
rather for
than
against
its
genuineness.
To
tell a
story
truthfully was
what
was
looked
for
from all
men in those
days; but
to tell it
properly and
gracefully,
and
so
to
clothe
the
facts
in fitting
diction,
was
given to
few,
and
of
those
few
the
Saga
teller
who
first
threw
Njal
into
its
present
shape,
was
one
of
the first
and
foremost.
With
the
change of
faith
and
conversion
of
the
Ice-
landers to
Christianity,
writing, and
the
materials
for
writing,
first
came
into
the
land,
about
the
year
1000.
There
is
no
proof that
the
earlier or
Runic
alphabet,
which
existed in heathen
times, was
ever
used for
any
other purposes than
those
of
simple
monumental
inscrip-
tions,
or of
short legends on
weapons
or
sacrificial
vessels,
or horns
and
drinking cups.
But
with
the Roman
alpha-
bet
came
not
only
a
readier
means
of
expressing thought,
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DASENT'S PREFACE
but
also
a
class
of
men who
were
wont thus
to
express
themselves.
.
. .
Saga
after
Saga
was reduced
to
writing,
and
before
the year
1200
it is
reckoned
that all
the pieces
of
that kind
of
composition which relate
to the history
of Icelanders previous
to
the introduction
of Christianity
had passed
from the
oral into the written
shape.
Of all
those
Sagas,
none
were
so
interesting as
Njal,
whether
as
regarded
the
length
of
the story, the number
and
rank
of
the
chiefs who
appeared
in
it
as
actors,
and the graphic
way in
which
the tragic tale
was told.
As
a
rounded
whole, in
which each
part
is
finely
and beautifully polished,
in
which the
two
great divisions
of
the
story
are
kept
in
perfect
balance and
counterpoise,
in
which
each
person
who
appears
is left
free
to
speak
in
a
way
which
stamps
him
with
a
character
of
his own, while all unite
in working
towards
a
common
end,
no
Saga
had
such claims on
public
attention as
Njal, and it is
certain
none
would sooner
have been committed
to
writing.
The latest period,
therefore,
that we can
assign
as to
the
date at which our
Saga was
moulded
into
its
present
shape is
the
year
1200.
. .
.
It
was
a
foster-father's duty,
in
old
times, to
rear
and
cherish
the
child
which he
had taken from
the
arms of
its
natural
parents,
his superiors
in
rank.
And
so may this
work, which
the
translator
has
taken from
the
house of
Icelandic scholars,
his masters
in
knowledge,
and
which he
has
reared
and
fostered
so
many
years
under an
English
roof,
go forth
and fight
the
battle of
life for itself,
and win
fresh
fame for
those
who
gave
it birth. It will
be
reward
enough
for him
who
has first
clothed it
in
an English
dress
if
his
foster-child
adds another leaf to that
evergreen
wreath of
glory
which
crowns
the brows of
Iceland's
ancient
worthies.
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SIR
GEORGE
DASENTS
INTRODUCTION.
(Abridged.)
The
Northmen
in
Iceland.
The
men who
colonized Iceland towards the end of the
ninth century of the
Christian
aera,
were
of
no
savage or
servile
race.
They fled
from
the
overbearing
power
of the
king,
from
that new and strange
doctrine
of
government put
forth
by
Harold
Fairhair,
860-933,
which
made
them
the
king's
men
at
all
times, instead
of
his
only at certain
times
for special
service,
which laid
scatts
and taxes
on
their
lands,
which
interfered
with
vested
rights
and
world-old
laws, and allowed
the
monarch
to
meddle
and
make
with
the freeman's
allodial
holdings.
As
we
look
at
it
now, and
from
another
point of
view,
we
see that
what to
them
was
unbearable
tyranny
was
really
a
step
in
the
great
march
of
civilization and
progress,
and that
the
centralization
and
consolidation
of
the royal
authority,
according
to
Charle-
magne's
system,
was in
time to
be
a
blessing
to the
king-
doms
of
the
north. But to
the
freeman
it
was
a
curse.
He
fought
against
it
as long
as
he
could
;
worsted
over
and over
again,
he renewed
the struggle,
and
at
last,
when
the
isolated efforts,
which
were the
key-stone
of
his
edifice
of liberty,
were
fruitless,
he
sullenly
withdrew
from
the
field,
and
left the land of
his fathers, where,
as he
thought,
no
free-born
man
could now care
to
live.
Now it
is
that
we
hear
of
him in
Iceland,
where
Ingiolf
was
the
first
settler
in
the
year
874,
and was
soon
followed
by
many of his
country-
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men.
Now,
too, we
hear
of him in all
lands.
Now
France
now
Italy
now Spain,
feel
the
fury
of
his wrath, and
the
weight of
his
arm. After
a
time,
but not until nearly
a
century
has
passed,
he spreads
his wings for
a
wider
flight,
and
takes
service
under
the
great
emperor
at
Byzan-
tium, or
Micklegarth
the
great city, the town
of
towns
and
fights
his
foes
from
whatever
quarter
they
come.
The
Moslem in Sicily and
Asia,
the
Bulgarians and
Sclavonians
on
the shores of the Black Sea and in Greece,
well
know
the
temper
of
the
Northern
steel,
which has
forced
many
of
their
chosen
champions
to bite
the dust.
Wherever he
goes
the Northman leaves
his
mark,
and
to
this
day the
lion at
the
entrance to
the
arsenal at
Venice
is scored
with
runes
which
tell
of
his
triumph.
But
of
all
countries, what were
called
the Western Lands
were his
favourite
haunt. England, where the
Saxons were
losing
their
old dash
and
daring,
and
settling
down into
a
sluggish sensual
race;
Ireland, the
flower
of Celtic lands,
in which
a
system
of
great
age
and
undoubted
civilization
was
then
fast
falling
to
pieces, afforded
a
tempting
battle-
field
in
the
everlasting
feuds
between chief and chief;
Scotland,
where the
power
of the Picts
was
waning,
while
that
of
the
Scots
had
not
taken
firm hold on
the
country,
and
most
of
all
the
islands
in
the
Scottish Main, Orkney,
Shetland,
and the
outlying
Faroe
Isles
;
all
these
were
his
chosen abode.
In
those islands he took deep root,
estab-
lished
himself
on
the
old
system,
shared
in
the quarrels
of
the
chiefs
and princes of
the
Mainland,
now
helped Pict and
now
Scot,
roved
the
seas and
made
all
ships prizes,
and
kept
alive
his
old grudge
against
Harold Fairhair and the
new
system
by a
long
series
of
piratical
incursions on the Norway
coast.
So
worrying
did
these Viking
cruises at last
become,
that
Harold, who
meantime had steadily pursued
his policy
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at
home,
and
forced
all
men
to
bow
to
his
sway
or
leave the
land,
resolved to crush
the
wasps that
stung him summer
after
summer in
their own nest. First
of
all he
sent
Kettle
Flatnose,
a
mighty chief,
to subdue
the
foe;
but
though
Kettle
waged successful war, he kept what
he
won
for
him-
self.
It
was the old story
of
setting
a
thief
to
catch a
thief;
and Harold
found
that
if
he
was
to
have
his work done
to
his
mind he must do
it
himself. He called
on
his chiefs
to
follow
him, levied'
a
mighty force, and, sailing
suddenly
with
a
fleet
which
must have
seemed
an
armada
in those
days,
he
fell
upon
the
Vikings
in
Orkney
and
Shetland, in
the
Hebrides and Western
Isles,
in Man
and
Anglesey,
in
the
Lewes
and
Faroe
wherever he
could
find them
he
followed
them
up
with
fire
and
sword.
Not
once,
but
twice
he
crossed the sea
after them,
and tore
them
out
so thor-
oughly, root and
branch,
that we hear
no
more
of
these
lands
as a
lair
of
Vikings, but
as
the
abode
of Xorse
Jarls
and their
udallers
(freeholders)
who
look
upon
the new
state
of
things
at
home
as
right
and
just,
and
acknowledge
the
authority of Harald and his successors
by
an
allegiance
more
or
less
dutiful at different
times,
but
which
was
never
afterwards
entirely
thrown off.
It
was
just then,
just
when
the
unflinching will
of
Harold had
taught this stern
lesson
to
his
old foes, and
arising
in
most part
out
of that lesson,
that the
great
rush
of
settlers
to
Iceland
took place. Ingolf
and
others
had
settled
in Iceland
from 874 downwards,
but
it was not
until
nearly
twenty
years
afterwards
that
the island
began
to
be
thickly
peopled.
More
than
half
of the
names
of
the
first
colonists contained
in the venerable
Landnama
Book
the
Book
of
Lots,
the
Doomsday
of
Iceland,
and far livelier
reading
than
that of
the
Conqueror
are those
of
Northmen
who
had been
before
settled
in
the
British Isles.
England
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then
was
the
great
stepping-stone
between
Norway
and
Iceland
;
and this one fact
is
enough
to
account
for
the
close
connection
which
the
Icelanders
ever
afterwards
kept
up
with their
kinsmen
who
had
remained behind
in
the
islands
of
the west.
.
.
.
Superstitions
of
the Race.
The
Northman
had
many
superstitions.
He
believed
in
good giants
and bad
giants,
in
dark elves and
bright
elves, in
superhuman
beings
who filled
the
wide
gulf which
existed
between
himself and
the
gods. He believed,
too,
in
wraiths
and
fetches
and
guardian
spirits,
who followed
particular
persons,
and
belonged
to certain families
belief
which
seems
to have
sprung
from
the habit
of
re-
garding
body and
soul
as
two
distinct
beings, which at
certain
times
took each
a
separate bodily
shape. Some-
times
the
guardian spirit
or
fylgja
took
a
human shape;
at
others its
form
took
that
of
some
animal
fancied
to
foreshadow
the
character
of
the man
to
whom it
belonged.
Thus
it becomes
a
bear,
a
wolf,
an
ox,
and even
a
fox,
in
men.
The
fylgjar
of
women
were
fond
of taking
the
shape
of
swans.
To see one's own fylgja
was
unlucky, and
often
a
sign
that
a
man
was fey,
or
death-doomed.
So,
when
Thord
Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees
the goat
wallowing
in
its
gore in
the
town of
Bergthorsknoll,
the
foresighted
man
tells
him
that
he
has
seen his own
fylgja,
and that
he
must
be
doomed
to
die.
Finer and
nobler natures
often
saw
the
guardian
spirits
of
others.
Thus
Njal
saw
the
fylgjar
of
Gunnar's enemies,
which
gave
him
no rest
the
livelong
night,
and
his
weird
feeling
is
soon confirmed
by
the
news brought
by
his
shepherd.
From
the
fylgja
of
the individual
it
was
easy
to rise
to
the
still more
abstract
notion
of
the
guardian spirits
of
a
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family,
who
sometimes,
if
a
great
change
in
the
house
is
about
to begin,
even
show themselves
as
hurtful
to
some
member
of the
house.
He
believed also
that
some
men had
more than one shape
;
that
they
could take
either
the
shapes
of animals, as
bears
or
wolves, and
so
work mischief
or
that, without
undergoing bodily change,
an excess of
rage
and
strength
came
over
them,
and
more
especially
towards
night,
which
made
them
more
than
a
match
for
ordinary
men.
Such
men
were
called
hamrammir. shape-
strong, and it
was
remarked that when the
fit left
them
they
were
weaker
than
they had
been
before.
This
gift
was
looked upon as something
uncanny,
and
it
leads
us at
once
to
another class
of men, whose super-
natural strength
was
regarded
as
a
curse
to
the
community.
These
were
the
Baresarks. What the
hamrammir
men
were
when they
were
in
their
fits the
Baresarks
almost
always
were.
They
are
described
as being
always
of
exceeding,
and when
their
fury
rose
high,
of
superhuman
strength.
They
too,
like the hamrammir
men,
were
very
tired
when
the
fits passed
off. What led
to
their fits is
hard
to
say.
In
the case
of
the
only
class
of
men
like
them nowadays, that
of
the
Malays
running
a-muck, the
intoxicating fumes
of
bangh or arrack
are
said to
be
the
cause of
their
fury. One
thing,
however, is
certain,
that
the Baresark, like his Malay brother,
was looked upon as
a
public pest, and
the
mischief
which
they
caused,
relying
partly
no doubt
on their
natural
strength,
and partly on
the
hold
which
the
belief in their
supernatural
nature
had
on
the
mind
of
the
people,
was such as to render their
killing
a
good work.
Again,
the Northman believed that certain
men were
fast or hard
;
that
no weapons would touch them or
wound
their
skin
;
that
the
mere glance of some men's
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eyes
would turn
the
edge
of the
best
sword;
and
that
some
persons
had the
power of
withstanding
poison.
He
believed
in
omens
and dreams
and
warnings,
in
signs
and
wonders
and tokens;
he
believed
in
good
luck
and
bad
luck,
and
that
the
man
on
whom
fortune
smiled
or
frowned
bore
the
marks
of her
favour or
displeasure
on
his face;
he
believed
also
in
magic
and
sorcery,
though
he
loathed
them
as
unholy
rites.
With
one
of his
beliefs
our story
has
much
to
do, though
this
was
a
belief
in
good
rather
than
in
evil. He
believed
firmly
that
some
men
had
the
inborn
gift, not
won
by
any
black
arts,
of
seeing
things
and events
beforehand.
He believed,
in
short,
in
what
is
called
in
Scotland second
sight.
This
was
what
was
called
being
forspar or
framsynn,
foretelling
and
foresighted.
Of
such
men
it
was said that
their
words
could
not
be
broken.
Njal
was one
of
these
men
;
one
of
the
wisest and
at the
same
time
most
just and
honour-
able
of
men.
This
gift ran in
families,
for
Helgi
Njal's
son
had it,
and it
was
beyond
a doubt
one
of
the
deepest-
rooted of all
their superstitions.
Social
Principles.
Beside his
creed and
these
beliefs
the
new
settler
brought
with
him
certain
fixed
social
principles,
which
we
shall
do well to
consider
carefully
in
the
outset.
.
.
.
First
and
foremost
came
the
father's
right
of
property
in
his
children.
This right
is
common
to
the infancy of
all
communities,
and
exists
before all
law. We
seek
it
in
vain
in
codes
which
belong
to
a
later period,
but
it
has
left
traces
of
itself
in
all
codes,
and,
abrogated
in
theory,
still
often
exists in
practice.
We
find it
in
the Roman
law,
and
we
find
it
among
the
Northmen. Thus it
was the
father's
right
to
rear his
children
or
not at his will.
As
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soon
as
it
was
born,
the
child
was
laid
upon
the
bare
ground
;
and until
the
father came and
looked
at it, heard
and
saw that
it
was
strong
in
lung
and limb, lifted it
in
his
arms,
and
handed
it
over
to the women
to
be
reared,
its fate
hung
in
the
balance,
and
life
or death
depended
on
the sentence
of
its
sire. After it
had
passed
safely
through that
ordeal,
it
was
duly
washed,
signed
with
Thor's holy
hammer,
and
solemnly received
into
the family.
If it
were
a
weakly
boy,
and still more
often,
if it
were
a
girl, no
matter
whether
she
were strong
or weak, the
infant
was
exposed
to die
by
ravening
beasts, or
the in-
clemency
of
the climate. Many instances
occur
of
children
so exposed,
who, saved
by
some
kindly
neighbour,
and
fostered
beneath a
strangers roof, thus
contracted
ties
reckoned
still
more binding than
blood
itself.
So
long
as
his children remained under
his
roof,
they
were
their
father's own.
When the
sons
left
the
paternal
roof,
they
were emancipated, and when the daughters
were
married
they were
also
free,
but
the
marriage itself
remained till
the
latest times
a
matter
of
sale
and
barter
in
deed
as
well as
name.
The
wife
came
into
the
house,
in
the
patri-
archal state,
either stolen
or
bought from
her nearest
male
relations
;
and
though in
later
times when
the
sale
took place it was softened
by
settling
part of
the
dower
and
portion
on
the
wife,
we
shall
do well to bear in mind,
that originally dower was only
the price
paid
by
the
suitor
to the father
for his good will; while portion,
on
the
other
hand,
was
the
sum
paid
by
the father
to
persuade
a
suitor to
take
a
daughter
off his
hands.
Let
us remember,
therefore,
that
in
those times,
as
Odin
was
supreme in
Asgard
as
the
Great
Father
of
Gods and men,
so
in
his
own house every father
of
the race
that
revered
Odin was
also sovereign
and
supreme.
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In
the
second
place,
as
the
creed
of
the
race
was
one
that adored
the
Great
Father
as
the God
of
Battles ;
as
it
was
his
will that
turned
the fight;
nay,
as
that was
the
very
way
in which he
chose
to call
his
own to
himself,
it
followed,
that
any
appeal to arms
was
looked upon
as an appeal
to God. Victory was indeed
the sign
of
a
rightful
cause,
and he
that
won
the day remained
behind
to enjoy
the
rights
which he
had
won
in
fair fight,
but
he
that lost
it,
if
he
fell
bravely
and like
a
man, if
he
truly
believed his quarrel
just,
and
brought
it
without
guile to
the
issue
of the
sword,
went
by
the
very manner
of his
death to
a
better
place.
The
Father
of
the
Slain
wanted
him, and
he
was
welcomed
by
the Valkyries,
by
Odin's
corse-choosers, to the
festive
board
in
Valhalla.
In
every
point
of
view, therefore,
war and
battle
was
a
holy
thing,
and the
Northman
went
to
the
battlefield in
the firm con-
viction
that
right
would
prevail.
In
modern times, while
we
appeal in
declarations
of war to the
God
of
Battles,
we do
it with the
feeling
that
war is
often
an unholy
thing,
and
that
Providence
is
not
always on the
side
of
strong
battalions.
The
Northman
saw
Providence
on
both sides.
It
was
good
to
live, if
one
fought
bravely,
but
it
was
also
good to
die, if
one fell bravely. To
live
bravely
and
to
die bravely,
trusting
in
the God
of
Battles, was
the
warrior's comfortable creed.
But
this
feeling was
also shown in
private
life.
When
two
tribes or
peoples
rushed
to
war, there
Odin, the
warrior's
god,
was
sure
to
be
busy
in
the
fight,
turning
the
day
this
way
or
that
at
his
will
;
but
he
was
no less
present
in
private war,
where in any quarrel man met
man to
claim
or to
defend
a
right.
There,
too, he turned
the scale and swayed
the
day,
and
there
too
an appeal
to
arms
was
regarded as an appeal
to
heaven. Hence
arose
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another
right
older
than
all
law, the
right
of
duel
of
wager of battle, as
the
old English law called
it. Among
the
Northmen it underlaid all their
early
legislation,
which,
as
we
shall
see,
aimed rather
at
regulating
and
guiding
it,
by
making
it
a
part
and parcel
of
the
law,
than
at
attempting to check at
once a
custom which had
grown
up
with
the whole faith of the people,
and
which
was
regarded
as
a
right
at
once
so
time-honoured
and so
holy.
Thirdly,
we
must
never forget that,
as
it
is
the
Chris-
tian's duty to forgive
his
foes,
and to
be
patient
and
long-
suffering
under
the most grievous
wrongs,
so
it
was the
heathen's
bounden duty to avenge all
wrongs,
and
most
of
all
those
offered
to
blood
relations,
to
his kith
and
kin,
to
the
utmost
limit
of
his
power. Hence
arose the
constant
blood-feuds
between
families,
of
which
we
shall
hear
so
much in our story,
but
which
we shall fail
fully
to
under-
stand,
unless
we
keep
in view,
along
with this duty
of
revenge,
the right of property which all heads
of houses
had in their relations.
One
of
these
twofold
rights,
of
the
right
of
revenge
and
the
right
of
property,
arose
that
strange
medley
of
forbearance and blood-thirstiness
which
stamps
the
age.
Revenge
was
a
duty
and
a
right,
but
property was
no
less
a
right
;
and
so
it
rested
with
the
father
of a
family either to
take
revenge, life
for life,
or to
forego
his vengeance, and take
a
compensation
in
goods
or
money
for the
loss he had
sustained
in
his property.
Out
of
this
latter view
arose
those
arbitrary
tariffs for
wounds or
loss
of
life, which were gradually developed
more
or
less
completely
in
all
the
Teutonic
and Scandi-
navian
races, until
every
injury
to
life
or
limb
had
its
pro-
portionate
price,
according
to the rank
which the
injured
person
bore
in
the social
scale.
These tariffs,
settled by
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the
heads
of
houses,
are,
in
fact,
the
first
elements
of
the
law
of
nations
;
but it must
be
clearly
understood that it
always
rested
with
the injured
family
either
to
follow
up
the
quarrel
by
private war,
or
to call on
the
man
who
had
inflicted
the
injury
to pay
a
fitting fine.
If
he
refused,
the
feud
might
be
followed
up
on
the
battlefield, in
the
earliest times,
or in later
days,
either
by
battle
or by
law.
A
fourth
great
principle
of
his
nature
was
the
con-
viction of
the
worthlessness
and fleeting
nature
of
all
worldly
goods.
One thing alone
was
firm and
unshaken,
the
stability
of well-earned fame. Goods perish, friends
perish,
a
man
himself perishes,
but
fame
never dies
to him
that hath won it
worthily.
One
thing
I
know
that
never
dies,
the
judgment passed
on
every
mortal
man.
Over
all
man's life
hung
a
blind,
inexorable
fate,
a
lower
fold
of
the
same
gloomy
cloud that brooded over Odin
and'
the
iEsir.
Nothing could avert
this
doom.
When
his
hour
came,
a
man must
meet
his
death, and
until his
hour came he
was
safe. It might
strike
in
the midst of
the
highest
happiness,
and
then nothing
could
avert
the
evil, but until it struck he would come safe through the
direst
peril.
This fatalism showed
itself
among
this
vigorous pushing
race
in
no
idle resignation.
On
the
contrary, the Northman
went
boldly
to
meet
the
doom
which
he
felt sure no effort
of
his
could
turn
aside,
but
which he
knew,
if
he met it
like
a
man,
would
secure
him
the
only lasting
thing on earth
a
name
fanfeus
in
song
and
story.
Fate
must
be
met
then,
but
the
way
in
which
it
was
met, that rested with
a
man
himself,
that,
at least,
was
in
his
own
power
;
there
he might
show
his
free
will
and thus the
principle,
which might seem at first
to
be
calculated to blunt
his energies
and
weaken
his strength
of
mind,
really
sharpened and hardened
them
in
a wonder-
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fill
way,
for
it
left
it
still
worth
everything
to
a
man
to
fight
this
stern
battle of life
well
and bravely,
while
its
blind
inexorable
nature allowed
no
room
for
any
careful
weighing
of
chances
or
probabilities, or
for any anxious
prying
into
the
nature
of
things
doomed once for all to
come to
pass. To
do
things
like
a
man,
without
looking
to
the
right or left, as
Kari
acted when
he smote off
Gunnar's
head in Earl Sigurd's
hall,
was
the
Northman's
pride.
He
must do
them openly too, and show no
shame
for what
he had done.
To
kill
a
man and
say that
you
had killed
him,
was
manslaughter; to
kill him and not
to
take
it on
)
r
our
hand
was
murder.
To
kill
men
at
dead
of
night
was also looked
on
as
murder. To
kill
a
foe
and
not
bestow
the
rights of burial
on
his
body
by
throwing sand
or
gravel
over
him,
was
also
looked
on as
murder. Even
the
wicked
Thiostolf
throws
gravel over
Glum
in
our
Saga,
and
Thord
Freedmanson's complaint
against
Brynjolf
the
unruly was
that
he had buried
Atli's
body
badly.
Even
in
killing
a
foe there was
an open
gentlemanlike
way
of
doing
it,
to
fail
in
which was
shocking
to
the
free and
outspoken
spirit
of
the
age.
Thorgeir
Craggeir
and
the
gallant Kari
wake
their foes and give them
time
to
arm
themselves
before they
fall upon
them
;
and Hrapp, too,
the
thorough
Icelander of
the
common
stamp,
the
friend
of
his
friends and
the
foe of
his foes, stalks
before Gud-
brand and
tells him to
his
face
the
crimes
which
he
has
committed.
Robbery and
piracy
in
a
good
straightforward wholesale
way was honoured and
respected
;
but to
steal,
to
creep
to
a man's abode secretly
at
dead
of
night
and
spoil
his goods,
was
looked upon
as
infamy
of
the
worst kind.
To do what
lay
before
him
openly and
like
a
man,
without
fear
of
either
foes,
fiends,
or
fate;
to hold
his
own and speak
his
mind,
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and
seek
fame
without
respect
of persons
;
to
be
free
and
daring
in all his deeds;
to
be
gentle
and
generous
to
his
friends and kinsmen
; to be
stern
and grim
to
his
foes,
but
even
towards them to
feel
bound
to
fulfill
all
bounden
duties
to be as
forgiving
to some as he
was
unyielding and
un-
forgiving to others.
To
be
no
trucebreaker,
nor talebearer
nor backbiter.
To utter
nothing
against any
man
that
he
would not
dare
to tell
him
to his
face. To
turn no man
from
his door
who
sought
food
or
shelter,
even though
he
were
a
foe
these were
other
broad principles
of the
North-
man's
life, further
features
of
that
steadfast
faithful spirit
which he brought with
him
to
his
new home.
.
. .
Daily
Life
in
Njai/s
Time.
In the
tenth
century the
homesteads
of
the Icelanders
consisted
of
one
main
building,
in
which
the
family
lived
by day and
slept at night,
and
of
out-houses
for
offices
and
farm-buildings,
all
opening
on a
yard.
Sometimes
these
out-buildings
touched
the
main
building,
and had
doors
which opened into
it,
but
in
most cases
they
stood
apart,
and
for
purposes
of
defence,
no
small
consideration
in
those
days, each
might
be
looked upon as
a
separate house.
The
main building of the
house
was the
stofa,
or
sitting
and sleeping room. In
the
abodes
of
chiefs
and great men,
this building
had
great
dimensions,
and
was
then
called
a
skali,
or
hall. It
was
also
called
eldhus, or
eldaskali,
from
the
great fires which
burned
in it. .
. .
It
had
two doors,
the men's or main
door, and
the
women's
or lesser door.
Each
of
these
doors
opened
into
a
porch
of
its own,
andyri, which was
often
wide
enough,
in
the
case
of
that into
which
the
men's door
opened, as
we
see in
Thrain's
house
at
Gritwater, to
allow many men
to
stand
in it
abreast.
It
was
sometimes called forskali.
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Internally the hall
consisted
of
three
divisions,
a nave
and
two
low
side
aisles.
The
walls
of these
aisles
were
of
stone,
and
low
enough
to
allow of
their
being
mounted with ease,
as we see
happened both with Gunnar's
skali,and
with Njal's.
The
centre
division or nave on
the
other hand,
rose
high
above the
others on
two rows
of
pillars.
It
was of
timber,
and had an open work
timber
roof.
The
roof of
the
side
aisles
were supported
by
posts
as well as
by
rafters
and
crossbeams
leaning
against
the
pillars
of the
nave. It
was
on
one
of
these crossbeams, after it had fallen
down
from
the burning roof,
that
Kari
got
on
to
the
side
wall and
leapt
out,
while
Skarphedinn,
when
the
burnt
beam
snapped
asunder under his
weight,
was unable
to
follow
him. There
were
fittings
of
wainscot
along
the
walls
of
the
side
aisles,
and
all around between the pillars
of
the
inner
row,
sup-
porting the
roof of
the
nave,
ran
a
wainscot panel. In
places
the wainscot
was
pierced
by
doors
opening
into
sleep-
ing
places
shut
off
from
the
rest
of
the
hall
on
all
sides
for
the
heads of
the family.
In other parts
of
the
passages
were sleeping places and
beds
not so shut off,
for
the
rest
of
the
household.
The
women
servants
slept
in
the
passage
behind
the
dais at one
end
of
the hall.
Over
some
halls
there were upper
chambers
or
lofts,
in one of
which
Gunnar
of
Lithend slept,
and from
which
he
made
his
famous
defence.
We
have
hitherto
treated
only
of the passages
and
re-
cesses
of
the
side
aisles. The
whole
of
the
nave
within the
wainscot,
between
the
inner
round pillars,
was
filled
by
the
hall
properly so
called. It had long hearths
for
fires
in the
middle,
with
louvres
above
to
let
out the smoke.
On
either
side nearest
to
the
wainscot, and in
some
cases
touching
it,
was
a
row
of
benches ;
in
each
of
these
was
a
high
seat,
if
the
hall
was
that
of
a
great
man,
that
on
the
south side
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being
the
owner's
seat.
Before
these
seats
were
tables,
boards,
which,
however,
do
not seem, any more than our
early Middle Age tables, to have been
always
kept standing,
but
were
brought in with, and cleared
away
after,
each
meal. On
ordinary
occasions, one
row
of
benches on each
side
sufficed
;
but when
there was
a
great
feast,
or
a
sud-
den
rush
of
unbidden guests, as
when
Flosi paid his visit
to
Tongue
to
take
down
Asgrim's
pride,
a
lower
kind
of
seats,
or
stools
were brought
in, on which the men of lowest
rank sat, and which were on
the outside
of
the
tables,
nearest
to
the fire. At
the end
of
the hall, over against
the
door, was a
raised platform
or
dais, on
which
also
was
sometimes
a
high seat and
benches.
It
was
where
the
women sat
at
weddings, as we
see
from the account
of
Hallgerda's wedding,
in our
Saga,
and
from
many
other
passages.
In later times
the
seat of
honour was shifted from
the
upper bench
to
the
dais
;
and
this
seems
to have
been
the
case
occasionally
with
kings
and
earls
in
Njal's
time, if
we
may
judge
from
the passage
in
the
Saga,
where
Hildigunna
fits
up
a
high
seat
on the
dais for Flosi,
which
he
spurns
from under
'him
with
the words, that he was
neither
king
nor
earl,
meaning that he
was
a
simple
man,
and would
have
nothing
to do with
any
of
those new
fashions. It
was to
the dais that
Asgrim betook
himself
when Flosi
paid him his
visit,
and
unless
Asgrim's hall was
much
smaller
than
we have any
reason to
suppose would be
the
case
in
the
dwelling
of
so
great
a
chief,
Flosi
must
have
eaten his meal
not
far from the
dais,
in
order
to
allow
of
Asgrim's getting
near
enough
to
aim
a
blow
at him
with
a pole-axe
from
the
rail
at
the edge
of
the
platform. On
high
days and feast days, part of
the
hall was
hung
with
tapestry, often
of great
worth and
beauty,
and
over
the
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hangings
all
along
the
wainscot,
were
carvings
such
as
those
which
...
our
Saga
tells us
Thorkel Foulmouth
had
carved
on
the
stool
before
his high seat
and
over
his,
shut bed, in
memory
of
those
deeds
of
derring do
which
he
had
performed
in foreign
lands.
Against
the
wainscot
in various
parts of
the hall,
shields
and
weapons
were
hung.
It
was
the
sound
of
Skarphedinn's axe
against
the
wainscot
that
woke
up
Njal
and
brought
him
out
of his
shut
bed,
when
his
sons
set
out
on their
hunt
after
Sigmund
the white
and
Skiold.
Now
let
us pass out
of
the
skali
by
either
door, and
cast
our eyes at
the
high
gables
with their
carved
projec-
tions, and we
shall
understand
at a
glance how
it was
that
Mord's
counsel
to
throw
ropes
round
the
ends
of the
timbers,
and
then
to
twist
them
tight with
levers and
rollers, could
only
end, if
carried
out,
in tearing the
whole
roof off the
house. It
was
then
much
easier
work for
Gunnar's
foes to
mount up on
the side-roofs
as
the
Easter-
ling, who
brought
word
that his bill was
at
home, had
already
done, and
thence to
attack
him
in
his sleeping
loft
with
safety
to
themselves,
after
his
bow-string
was
cut.
Some
homesteads,
like those
of
Gunnar
at
Lithend,
and
Gisli and
his
brother at
Hoi
in Hawkdale, in the
West
Firths, had
bowers,
ladies'
chambers, where
the
women sat and
spun, and
where, in
both
the
houses
that
we
have
named,
gossip and
scandal was
talked
with
the
worst results.
These
bowers
stood
apart from
the
other
buildings.
. . .
Every
Icelandic
homestead
was
approached
by a
straight
road
which
led
up
to
the yard
round which
the main
building
and its
out-houses and
farm-buildings stood.
This
was
fenced
in
on each
side
by a
wall of
stones
or
turf.
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Near
the
house
stood
the
town
or
home
fields
where
meadow
hay
was
grown,
and in favoured positions
where
corn
would
grow
there
were also
enclosures
of arable
land
near
the
house.
On
the
uplands
and
marshes
more
hay
was grown.
Hay
was the
great crop in
Iceland
; for the
large
studs of horses and great herds
of
cattle
that
roamed
up on the
hills
and fells in summer
needed fodder
in the
stable
and
byre
in
winter,
when
they
were
brought
home.
As
for
the flocks
of
sheep, they
seem
to
have
been
reckoned
and
marked
every autumn,
and milked and shorn in
sum-
mer;
but
to
have
fought it out
with
nature
on the
hill-
side
all the
year round
as they best could.
Hay,
therefore,
was
the main staple, and hay-making
the
great end and
aim
of
an Icelandic farmer.
. . .
Gunnar's
death
in
our
Saga
may
be set
down
to
the
fact
that all his
men
were
away
in
the
Landisles
finishing
their haymaking.
Again,
Flosi,
before
the
Burning,
bids all his
men
go
home and
make
an
end
of
their
haymaking,
and when
that is
over,
to meet
and
fall
on
Njal and his sons.
Even
the
great
duty of revenge gives
way to
the
still
more
urgent
duty
of
providing
fodder
for
the
winter store.
Hayneed,
to
run
short
of
hay,
was
the
greatest
misfortune that
could
befall
a
man, who with
a
fine herd
and stud,
might
see both
perish
before
his
eyes
in
winter.
Then
it was that men
of
open heart
and hand, like Gunnar,
helped
their
tenants
and
neighbours,
often,
as
we
see in Gunnar's
case,
till
they
had
neither hay
nor
food
enough
left
for their
own
household,
and
had
to
buy
or
borrow
from
those
that
had.
Then,
too,
it
was
that the churl's
nature came
out
in
Otkell
and
others,
who
having
enough
and to spare, would not part
with their
abundance
for love
or
money.
These
men
were
no
idlers.
They laboured
hard,
and
all, high
or low,
worked.
In no land
does the dignity
of
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DASENT'S
INTRODUCTION
labour
stand out so boldly.
The
greatest chiefs
sow
and
reap,
and
drive
their sheep,
like
Glum, the
Speaker's
brother,
from the
fells.
The
mightiest
warriors
were
the
handiest
carpenters
and
smiths.
Gisli Sur's
son
knew
every
corner
of
his foeman's house,
because
he had
built
it
with his
own
hands while they
were
good friends.
Njal's
sons were busy
at
armourer's work, like
the
sons of
the
mythical
Ragnar
before
them,
when
the
news
comes
to
them that Sigmund
has
made
a
mock
of them
in
his songs.
Gunnar sows his corn
with
his
arms
by
his
side,
when
Otkell
rides
over
him
;
and
Hauskuld the Whiteness
priest
is doing the same
work
when
he is
slain.
To
do
some-
thing, and
to
do it
well,
was
the
Icelander's
aim
in life,
and
in no
land
does
laziness like that
of
Thorkell meet
with
such
well
deserved
reproach.
While
the
men
laboured
on the
farm or in
the
smithy, threw
nets
for fish
in the
teeming lakes and rivers, or were otherwise
at work
during
the
day,
the
women, and the housewife,
or mistress
of
the
house,
at their
head,
made
ready
the
food for
the meals,
carded
wool,
and
sewed or wove or
spun.
At
meal-time
the
food
seems
to
have
been
set
on the
board
by
the
women,
who
waited
on the
men, and
at
great
feasts,
such
as
Gunnar's
wedding,
the
wives
of
his
nearest
kinsmen,
and
of
his dearest
friend.
Thorhillda
Skaldtongue,
Thrain's
wife,
and
Berg-
thora,
Njal's
wife, went about
from board
to
board waiting
on
the
guests.
In
everyday life
they
were a
simple sober
people,
early
to
bed
and
early
to
rise
ever
struggling
with
the
rigour
of
the
climate.
On
great
occasions,
as
at
the
Yule
feasts
in honour of the
gods,
held
at
the
temples, or
at
arvel,
heir-ale,
feasts, when
heirs drank
themselves
into
their
father's land
and goods,
or at
the
autumn
feasts,
which
friends
and
kinsmen
gave
to
one
another, there
was
no
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DASENTS
INTRODUCTION
doubt
great
mirth
and
jollity,
much
eating
and
hard
drinking
of
mead and
fresh-brewed
ale;
but these
drinks
are not of
a
very
heady kind,
and one glass
of
spirits
in
our
days would send
a
man
farther
on the
road
to drunken-
ness
than
many
a
horn
of
foaming
mead.
They
were
by
no
means
that
race
of
drunkards
and hard
livers
which
some
have
seen
fit
to call them.
Nor
were
these
people
such
barbarians
as
some
have
fancied,
to whom
it
is
easier
to rob
a
whole
people
of
its
character
by
a single
word
than to
take the
pains
to
in-
quire
into its
history.
They
were bold
warriors
and
bolder
sailors.
The voyage
between
Iceland and
Norway,
or Ice-
land
and Orkney,
was
reckoned
as
nothing;
but
from
the
west firths
of Iceland,
Eric the
Red
no ruffian
as he
has
been
styled,
though
he
had
committed an
act of
man-
slaughter
discovered
Greenland
;
and
from Green